New Settlement: Overtime Violations Prompt $320K Payout in California

A California roofing and painting contractor will pay more than $320,000 after federal investigators found overtime violations tied to off-the-clock work that was never counted as paid time.

An investigation by the DOL’s Wage and Hour Division found Howard and Sons Inc. failed to pay 62 employees for some of the hours they worked, a violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The company has agreed to pay $267,177 in back wages and an additional $53,010 in civil penalties due to the willful nature of the violations.

Where the Overtime Breakdown Happened

According to investigators, the wage and hour violations were not limited to missed overtime calculations. They determined the employer failed to count several categories of compensable time, including:

• Pre- and post-shift time spent picking up and returning supplies from stores and storage sheds
• Hours worked beyond scheduled shifts
• Saturday work that was not included in weekly totals

The employer also failed to keep accurate records of hours worked, investigators determined, which directly contributed to the overtime violations.

For HR teams, that combination is a familiar risk pattern. When work time isn’t clearly defined, communicated, and recorded, compliance gaps emerge long before payroll runs.

Why This Matters to HR and Compliance Teams

Off-the-clock work tied to setup, supply pickup, travel between locations, and end-of-day tasks is a recurring source of FLSA exposure in field-based roles.

These activities often fall outside standard schedules or supervisor oversight, making them easy to miss unless HR policies, training, and timekeeping practices are aligned.

In this case, the DOL assessed civil penalties because the violations were deemed willful. That designation matters for HR leaders because it reflects whether the employer reasonably should have known the work was compensable.

From an HR perspective, the impact extends beyond back wages:

• Employees lose trust when required work is treated as informal or optional
• Frontline supervisors normalize off-the-clock tasks without realizing the legal exposure
• Incomplete time records limit the employer’s ability to explain or defend pay decisions

The Enforcement Signal

The Wage and Hour Division emphasized that employers are responsible for tracking and paying for all hours worked, including preparation activities required for the job.

“It is the employer’s responsibility to know how many hours their employees work for the business and to pay them accordingly for all hours worked,” Assistant District Director Rafael Valles in West Covina, California, said in a press release. “When employees are required to pick up supplies, shop, and set up equipment as part of their preparation for their hands-on work at the job site, employers must understand these duties are FLSA hours worked. As the back wages in this case illustrate, we are committed to ensuring that workers receive all wages due, including overtime pay.”

The HR Takeaway

This case reinforces that overtime compliance failures often begin with how work is defined and managed, not with payroll processing alone.

This type of enforcement action raises practical questions about whether current practices clearly address:

• Which pre-shift and post-shift tasks are treated as paid work
• How unscheduled and weekend hours are recorded in practice, and
• Whether timekeeping records reflect how work happens in the field, not just how it is supposed to happen.

When expectations, policies, and supervision are misaligned, overtime liability becomes a compliance failure that invites enforcement scrutiny and employee claims.